Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs and Jam Cigars

Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs is a fun appetizer you can enjoy as dessert or breakfast. Its made with homemade hibiscus strawberry jam & pastry puffs.

About 11 years ago, around this time there was a natural disaster in Bombay. Due to extremely heavy rainfall, there was flooding all over the city. The situation was so bad that the water entered all the homes, the streets were water-logged and there was chaos all over the city. Most of us were stuck at workplace and had a tough time reaching home that night. Unfortunately, there was water logging at our home too and lot of things were damaged because of it. It was a tough time for all of us. We had no electricity the following week, we had to move base to our neighbors house in the upper floor and everyone was stuck inside the building that week.

It was during this difficult time, the whole apartment came together to help one another. Every neighbor opened their house to people like us who were facing this calamity at their homes. That one week spent with all the neighbors got us all more closer. All the ladies would cook food together for all of us with limited available groceries (as no one could leave the apartment for a week due to water logging). We would all eat together, play board games in the afternoon, follow the news diligently on battery operated radio to know what is happening in the city and every night ended with candle light dinner where all of us would gather at one of the houses and enjoy a meal. Later we would all play cards and then chit-chat till early hours.

During the day, I used to observe all the building aunties cooking. They truly had some skill to cook for the whole apartment with limited resources! While talking to my brother yesterday, we both re-lived that week and wondered how we had sailed through that time. It seemed effortless because of the wonderful support we had received from all around. However we associate this day to a bad memory. So I was feeling very low once I hung up the phone. Coincidentally it started to rain here as well and that worsened my mood all the more. I didn’t even feel like cooking that day.

I just had some rice with Sesame Seed Powder/Ellu Pudi (my go to recipe when I am in no mood to cook). But I was very restless so I wanted to do something to occupy my mind. However I just sat put on the sofa aimlessly changing channels on TV only to be interrupted by the doorbell. My Amazon delivery was here. It was a grill mat from No Mess BBQs. [Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product mentioned above at a minimum cost in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”] Receiving this product surely did divert my mind. I decided to put this to use immediately and got charged up to prepare a new recipe.

Since the product specification on the packet said that these grill mats can also be used in the oven, I decided to bake something with pastry sheets. For some reason, I was craving to eat something sweet suddenly, so I decided to make a dessert this time. Thankfully I had some fresh strawberries which I had picked up from Farmer’s market a day before, in the fridge. As we all know, they are delicious and nutrient-rich fruit which when added to any recipe, elevates the taste. There are a couple of amazing recipes I have made using them, like Kumquat & Strawberry Popsicle, Spiked Plums & Strawberries Juice and Strawberry & Oats Ice cream. This time, I decided to make some strawberry jam and use it as a filling for the pastry sheet. I planned to use the same process that I used when making Blueberry Jam.

Finely chop the strawberries and add them to a pan. Add water, honey and lemon juice. That is when it struck me that I could add some hibiscus syrup to this and is what I did. Allow the berries to cook for 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally. The mixture will begin to thicken. Discard the hibiscus flower once the essences is extracted. Lastly add cornstarch + water to bind it all together.

It’s done when the mixture will get the jam consistency. Set it aside to cool down a bit. Meanwhile thaw the pastry sheets. Using cookie cutter of any shape, cut them. Line the baking tray with grill mats (you can read my review about this product here). Place the cut pastry sheets on it.

Add a dollop of some homemade strawberry and hibiscus jam over one heart. Apply butter around it and place another heart over it. Using a fork, press lightly around it giving it this effect. As an additional step, you can apply some butter over it to give it a glazed look. I also made some Jam Cigars from the leftover pastry sheets and placed it in another baking tray. You need to roll the remaining pastry sheet and spread jam over it. Cut strips and roll it to give it this look. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake these for 20 – 25 minutes or until they are puffed up and turned golden brown.

Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs and Jam Cigars are ready. This homemade jam is very appetizing and lip smacking. I was licking it off the spoon and relishing it. Being homemade, it has no preservatives or pectin. Hence good to give your kids too.

The pastries are sweet, light and crispy. Sprinkle sugar on top and serve.

Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs & Jam Cigars

2016-07-28 06:35:35

Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs is a fun appetizer you can enjoy as dessert or breakfast. Its made with homemade hibiscus strawberry jam & pastry puffs.

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Ingredients

5-6 strawberries

2-3 tbsp water

1 - 2 tbsp honey

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp hibiscus syrup

1 tbsp cornstarch

3 pastry sheets

Cookie cutters

Butter as required

Instructions

Finely chop the strawberries and add them to a pan. Add water, honey and lemon juice. That is when it struck me that I could add some hibiscus syrup to this and is what I did. Allow the berries to cook for 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally. The mixture will begin to thicken. Discard the hibiscus flower once the essences is extracted. Lastly add cornstarch + water to bind it all together.

It's done when the mixture will get the jam consistency. Set it aside to cool down a bit. Meanwhile thaw the pastry sheets. Using cookie cutter of any shape, cut them. Line the baking tray with grill mats. Place the cut pastry sheets on it.

Add a dollop of some homemade strawberry and hibiscus jam over one heart. Apply butter around it and place another heart over it. Using a fork, press lightly around it giving it this effect. As an additional step, you can apply some butter over it to give it a glazed look. I also made some Jam Cigars from the leftover pastry sheets and placed it in another baking tray. You need to roll the remaining pastry sheet and spread jam over it. Cut strips and roll it to give it this look. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake these for 20 - 25 minutes or until they are puffed up and turned golden brown.

Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs and Jam Cigars are ready. Sprinkle sugar on top and serve.

Notes

Being homemade, this jam has no preservatives or pectin.

By Priya Lakshminarayan

Cookilicious https://cookilicious.com/

Making these Hibiscus Strawberry Pastry Puffs and Jam Cigars surely did uplift my gloomy mood that day. Nothing can take away our life experiences, some things surely help us forget them for a while and make us feel better. These pastry puffs acted like medicine for me that day. It revived my spirits and made me be thankful for what I have and had!

If you do try this recipe, please do share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. This will keep me motivated to develop more interesting recipes. Click a pic and post it with the hashtag #cookiliciousveg . I would love to see your pictures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!